Surely the Bulgarian government is pleased to see how quietly the specificity of Bulgarian membership in the European Union is beginning to blur. Attached to Bulgaria’s and Romania’s accession to the EU in 2007, the Union introduced a Cooperation and Verification Mechanism which was to remind the two countries that they had to adhere to the rule of law and fight against corruption.

Last December Azerbaijani Deputy FM Khalaf Khalafov made it public for the first time that the draft Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea includes, among other things, a relevant provision under which coastal states are entitled to build pipelines along the Caspian seabed with the agreement between only those countries through the sectors of which a pipeline will be laid.

VILNIUS - Eight countries of Northern Europe, including the three Baltic states, are urging the European Union to take more decisive action to build a single capital markets union in an effort to increase non-bank financing opportunities for businesses.

Delegations from Central Asian foreign ministries and from European External Action Service (EEAS) held the fifth annual High Level Dialogue (HLD) on Political and Security matters in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.

Presently, India is scrutinizing proposals by Russian and Italian shipyards to locally build mine countermeasures vessels for the Indian Navy. Prolonged negotiations with South Korean firm Kangnam Corporation fell apart earlier this year due to differences over cost and transfer of technology.

In the meeting of heads of Governments of China and the Central and Eastern European countries 16+1, wherein Lithuania was represented by Vilius Šapoka, the Minister of Finance, it was agreed to establish a financial technologies coordination centre of 16+1 format in Vilnius and to organize high-level fintech conference in 2019.

ASTANA – Estonia, which is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its independence this year, has established friendly relations with Kazakhstan during 26 years of diplomatic relations. Bilateral cooperation, which has great potential, has not yet been fully explored, said Estonian Ambassador to Kazakhstan Heiti Maemees in an interview with The Astana Times.

It is notoriously challenging to acquire accurate socio-economic data on a country as insulated as Turkmenistan. And the difficulty is further heightened by the fact that the autocratic government in Ashgabat consistently paints society in roseate terms, even as the Turkmenistani opposition scattered abroad relates much darker imagery.